Abstract
This chapter traces the history of replication research in the field of applied linguistics, culminating in a discussion of current views of replication research as a means of evaluating the internal and external validity of a study, illuminating phenomena of interest, and ultimately, driving both theory and pedagogy forward. It provides an overview of different types of replication studies (exact, approximate, conceptual) with recent examples from the field. Challenges concerning the interpretation of replication results, as well as ongoing controversies over the replication of qualitative studies, are discussed. The author concludes with current recommendations for facilitating replication research, including those pertaining to reporting and data sharing.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abbuhl, R. (2012a). Practical methods for teaching replication to applied linguistics studies. In G. Porte (Ed.), Replication research in applied linguistics (pp. 135–150). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Abbuhl, R. (2012b). When, when, and how to replicate research. In A. Mackey & S. Gass (Eds.), Research methods in second language acquisition (pp. 296–312). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
Basturkmen, H. (2014). Replication research in comparative genre analysis in English for academic purposes. Language Teaching, 47(3), 377–386.
Benson, L., & Borrego, M. (2015). The role of replication in engineering education research. Journal of Engineering Education, 104(4), 388–392.
Bikowski, D., & Schulze, M. (2015). Replication and evaluation in CALL. CALICO Journal, 32(2), i–v.
Bitchener, J., & Knoch, U. (2015). Written corrective feedback studies: Approximate replication of Bitchener & Knoch (2010a) and Van Beuningen, De Jong & Kuiken (2012). Language Teaching, 48(3), 405–414.
Booth, P. (2013). Vocabulary knowledge in relation to memory and analysis: An approximate replication of Milton’s (2007) study on lexical profiles and learning style. Language Teaching, 46(3), 335–354.
Bronstein, R. (1990). Publication politics, experimenter bias and the replication process in social science research. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 5(4), 71–81.
Burman, L., Reed, W., & Alm, J. (2010). A call for replication studies. Public Finance Review, 38(6), 787–793.
Casanave, C. (2012). Heading in the wrong direction? A response to Porte and Richards. Journal of Second Language Writing, 21(3), 296–297.
Chun, D. (2012). Replication studies in CALL research. CALICO Journal, 29(4), 591–600.
Crandall, C., & Sherman, J. (2016). On the scientific superiority of conceptual replications for scientific progress. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 66, 93–99.
Earp, B., & Trafimow, D. (2015). Replication, falsification, and the crisis of confidence in social psychology. Frontiers in Psychology, 6(621), 1–11.
Easley, R., Madden, C., & Dunn, M. (2000). Conducting market science: The role of replication in the research process. Journal of Business Research, 48(1), 83–92.
Frankenberg-Garcia, A. (2014). The use of corpus examples for language comprehension and production. ReCALL, 26(2), 128–146.
Gass, S., & Valmori, L. (2015). Replication in interaction and working memory research: Révész (2012) and Goo (2012). Language Teaching, 48(4), 545–555.
Golden, M. (1995). Replication and non-quantitative research. PS: Political Science and Politics, 28(3), 481–483.
Hendrik, C. (1990). Replications, strict replications, and conceptual replications: Are they important? Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 5(4), 41–49.
Hubbard, R., & Armstrong, J. (1994). Replications and extensions in marketing: Rarely published but quite contrary. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 11(3), 233–248.
Ioannidis, J. (2005). Why most published research findings are false. PLoS Medicine, 2(8), e124.
John, L., Loewenstein, G., & Prelec, D. (2012). Measuring the prevalence of questionable research practices with incentives for truth telling. Psychological Science, 23(5), 524–532.
Johnson, M., Mercado, L., & Acevedo, A. (2012). The effect of planning sub-processes on L2 writing fluency, grammatical complexity, and lexical complexity. Journal of Second Language Writing, 21(3), 264–282.
Johnson, M., & Nicodemus, C. (2015). Testing a threshold: An approximate replication of Johnson, Mercado & Acevedo 2012. Language Teaching, 49(2), 251–274.
King, K., & Mackey, A. (2016). Research methodology in second language studies: Trends, concerns, and new directions. Modern Language Journal, 100(s1), 209–227.
Klein, R. A., Ratliff, R. A., Vianello, M., Adams, R. A., Jr., Bahník, S., Bernstein, M. J., … Nosek, B. A. (2014). Investigating variation in replicability: A “ManyLabs” replication project. Social Psychology, 45(3), 142–152.
Language Teaching Review Panel. (2008). Replication studies in language learning and teaching: Questions and answers. Language Teaching, 41(1), 1–14.
Larson-Hall, J., & Plonsky, L. (2015). Reporting and interpreting quantitative research findings: What gets reported and recommendations for the field. Language Learning, 65(S1), 127–159.
LeBel, E. (2015). A new replication norm for psychology. Collabra, 1(1), 1–13.
Leow, R. (2015). The roles of attention and (un)awareness in SLA: Conceptual replication of N.C. Ellis & Sagarra (2010a) and Leung & Williams (2012). Language Teaching, 48(1), 117–129.
Lim, H., & Godfroid, A. (2015). Automatization in second language sentence processing: A partial, conceptual replication of Hulstijn, Van Gelderen, and Schoonen’s 2009 study. Applied Psycholinguistics, 36(5), 1247–1282.
Liu, Q., & Brown, D. (2015). Methodological synthesis of research on the effectiveness of corrective feedback in L2 writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 30, 66–81.
Lu, X. (2011). A corpus-based evaluation of syntactic complexity measures as indices of college-level ESL writers’ language development. TESOL Quarterly, 45(1), 36–62.
Mackey, A., & Marsden, E. (2016). Advancing methodology and practice: The IRIS repository of instruments for research into second languages. New York: Routledge.
Makel, M., & Plucker, J. (2015). An introduction to replication research in gifted education: Shiny and new is not the same as useful. Gifted Child Quarterly, 59(3), 157–164.
Makel, M., Plucker, J., & Hegarty, B. (2012). Replications in psychology research: How often do they really occur? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(6), 532–542.
Markee, N. (2017). Are replication studies possible in qualitative second/foreign language classroom research? A call for comparative re-production research. Language Teaching, 50(3), 367–383.
Marsden, E., & Mackey, A. (2013, June). IRIS and replication. Paper presented at the 9th International Symposium on Bilingualism, Singapore.
Marsden, E., Mackey, A., & Plonsky, L. (2016). The IRIS repository: Advancing research practice and methodology. In A. Mackey & E. Marsden (Eds.), Advancing methodology and practice: The IRIS repository for research into second languages (pp. 1–21). New York: Routledge.
Matsuda, P. (2012). On the nature of second language writing: Replication in a postmodern field. Journal of Second Language Writing, 21(3), 300–302.
Maxwell, S., Lau, M., & Howard, G. (2015). Is psychology suffering from a replication crisis? What does “failure to replicate” really mean? American Psychologist, 70(6), 487–498.
McNeeley, S., & Warner, J. (2015). Replication in criminology: A necessary practice. European Journal of Criminology, 12(5), 581–597.
Mezias, S., & Regnier, M. (2007). Walking the walk as well as talking the talk: Replication and the normal science paradigm in strategic management research. Strategic Organization, 5(3), 283–296.
Moravcsik, A. (2014). Transparency: The revolution in qualitative research. PS: Political Science & Politics, 47(1), 48–53.
Mu, C., & Matsuda, P. (2016). Replication in L2 writing research: Journal of second language writing authors’ perceptions. TESOL Quarterly, 50(1), 201–219.
Nassaji, H. (2012). Significance tests and generalizability of research results: A case for replication. In G. Porte (Ed.), Replication research in applied linguistics (pp. 92–115). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Neuliep, J., & Crandall, R. (1990). Editorial bias against replication research. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 5(4), 85–90.
Open Science Collaboration. (2012). An open, large-scale, collaborative effort to estimate the reproducibility of psychological science. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(6), 657–660.
Pashler, H., & Harris, C. (2012). Is the replicability crisis overblown? Three arguments examined. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(6), 531–536.
Pashler, H., & Wagenmakers, E.-J. (2012). Editors’ introduction to the special section on replicability in psychological science: A crisis of confidence? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(6), 528–530.
Plonsky, L. (2012). Replication, meta-analysis, and generalizability. In G. Porte (Ed.), Replication research in applied linguistics (pp. 116–132). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Plonsky, L. (2013). Study quality in SLA: An assessment of designs, analyses, and reporting practices in quantitative L2 research. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 35(4), 655–687.
Plonsky, L. (2015). Quantitative considerations for improving replicability in CALL and applied linguistics. CALICO Journal, 32(2), 232–244.
Plonsky, L., Egbert, J., & Laflair, G. (2015). Bootstrapping in applied linguistics: Assessing its potential using shared data. Applied Linguistics, 36(5), 591–610.
Polio, C. (2012a). No paradigm wars please! Journal of Second Language Writing, 21(3), 294–295.
Polio, C. (2012b). Replication in published applied linguistics research: An historical perspective. In G. Porte (Ed.), Replication research in applied linguistics (pp. 47–91). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Polio, C., & Gass, S. (1997). Replication and reporting: A commentary. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 19(4), 499–508.
Porte, G. (2012). Replication research in applied linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Porte, G. (2013). Who needs replication research? CALICO Journal, 30(1), 10–15.
Porte, G., & Richards, K. (2012). Focus article: Replication in second language writing research. Journal of Second Language Writing, 21(3), 284–293.
Reis, H., & Lee, K. (2016). Promise, peril, and perspective: Addressing concerns about reproducibility in social-personality psychology. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 66, 148–152.
Richards, K. (2009). Trends in qualitative research in language teaching since 2000. Language Teaching, 42(2), 147–180.
Rosenthal, R. (1979). The file drawer problem and tolerance for null results. Psychological Bulletin, 86(3), 638–641.
Rott, S., & Gavin, B. (2015). Comprehending and learning from Internet sources: A conceptual replication study of Goldman, Braasch, Wiley, Greasser and Brodowinska (2012). CALICO Journal, 32(2), 323–354.
Sakaluk, J. (2016). Exploring small, confirming big: An alternative system to the new statistics for advancing cumulative and replicable psychological research. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 66, 47–54.
Santos, T. (1989). Replication in applied linguistics research. TESOL Quarterly, 23(4), 699–702.
Sasaki, M. (2012). An alternative approach to replication studies in second language writing: An ecological perspective. Journal of Second Language Writing, 21(3), 303–305.
Schmitt, N., Cobb, T., Horst, M., & Schmitt, D. (2017). How much vocabulary is needed to use English? Replication of van Zeeland & Schmitt (2012), Nation (2006) and Cobb (2007). Language Teaching, 50(2), 212–226.
Schofield, J. (2002). Increasing the generalizability of qualitative research. In A. Huberman & M. Miles (Eds.), The qualitative researcher’s companion (pp. 171–203). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Schweinsberg, M., Madan, N., Vianello, M., Amy Sommer, S., Jordan, J., Tierney, W., … Uhlmann, E. L. (2016). The pipeline project: Pre-publication independent replications of a single laboratory’s research pipeline. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 66, 55–67.
Simmons, J., Nelson, L., & Simonsohn, U. (2011). False-positive psychology undisclosed flexibility in data collection and analysis allows presenting anything as significant. Psychological Science, 22(11), 1359–1366.
Smith, B., & Schulze, M. (2013). Thirty years of the CALICO Journal—Replicate, replicate, replicate. CALICO Journal, 30(1), i–iv.
Stake, R. (2005). Qualitative case studies. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 443–466). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
Valdman, A. (1993). Replication study. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 15(4), 505.
Webb, S. (2015). Learning vocabulary through meaning-focused input: Replication of Elley (1989) and Liu & Nation (1985). Language Teaching, 49(1), 129–140.
Willans, F., & Leung, C. (2016). Empirical foundations for medium of instruction policies: Approximate replications of Afolayan (1976) and Siegel (1997b). Language Teaching, 49(4), 549–563.
Yoon, H.-J., & Polio, C. (2017). The linguistic development of students of English as a second language in two written genres. TESOL Quarterly, 51(2), 275–301.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Abbuhl, R. (2018). Research Replication. In: Phakiti, A., De Costa, P., Plonsky, L., Starfield, S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Applied Linguistics Research Methodology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59900-1_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59900-1_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-59899-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-59900-1
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)